C71

Am I still alive? Bai Zhijin asked himself. His eyes lit up. It was the glow from the monitor. It seemed that what happened just now was indeed a dream. Perhaps he was too tired and had fallen asleep while sitting in front of the computer.

But would there be such a real dream?

Bai Zhijin panted heavily. It was a full five minutes before his body could move. He raised his hand and cold sweat dripped down his forehead. The poor mouse also had a bath, taking a salty bath.

Bai Zhijin's mind was in a mess. The beasts he saw before he "died" were currently branded into his mind, and couldn't be removed. What was going on? Why was the feeling of being raped so unforgettable, it was as if it had happened to him?

Bai Zhijin inadvertently glanced at the screen, which showed a girl's face. It was the picture sent by the Withered Leaf. The eye in the picture had become a black hole, sucking his "soul" into the computer, and there had been a wonderful and exciting adventure.

"Withered Leaf, where did you get this picture from?" Bai Zhijin asked.

"It's online. What's the matter?" Is it completely different from the girl in your dreams? "

"On the contrary, it's exactly the same."

"Ah, such a coincidence. We really do have the same thoughts."

If it was in the past, Bai Zhijin would definitely be touched by what the Withered Leaf had said. But now, he felt a chill coming from behind him, and quickly tapped the keyboard, "Where did you find this? Can you give me the web address? "

"Why are you so nervous? Alright, wait a moment."

After a while, the Withered Leaf sent a message to Bai Zhijin, who quickly opened it. There were many pictures of girls in there, and with a glance, he saw the girl in the ruins, which was the picture that the Withered Leaf had given him. And when he put the mouse on the girl's photo, the mouse changed into the shape of a hand, which made Bai Zhijin shudder. What web page would it be?

Under the urge of intense curiosity, Bai Zhijin clicked on the girl's photo and a new page popped up. When she opened the gray webpage, Bai Zhijin was completely shocked — Heavens, this was real!

It was actually a demolition site. This place was originally a neighborhood of old houses, but because the construction of the city needed to be done, a large interlocking supermarket would be built here, and all the original houses would be demolished. The ruins were exactly the same as when the house had been demolished.

Bai Zhijin checked a time that happened 20 years ago.

Not only was there information about the ruins, there was also information about this girl. Her name was Du Jingjing, and she was a junior high student. When she was passing by the "ruins", she was dragged by a criminal into a small house and raped. After checking up on her classmates, she learned that she had just attended a birthday party before the tragedy happened. She didn't expect such an unfortunate event to happen on her way home. Perhaps she had overdone her birthday party, but by the time she got home it was already late. Taking a shortcut through the demolition site, he did not expect to encounter such a thing.

There were even pictures of Du Jingjing before she died posted on the web page, taken while she was on a tour with her classmates. The picture showed her dancing on the green grass like a sunshine-angel. The crime scene photos were also posted online. It was a truly tragic sight. Du Jingjing was discarded like a piece of trash in a small house. She was completely naked, and she died with grievance. It was painful to put the two photos together.

According to the webpage, Du Jingjing was raped and brutally killed, and she was also killed by a blunt instrument that struck her forehead. This news made Bai Zhijin's heart skip a beat. He couldn't help but think of the scene he saw before he "died": the guy in the black jacket was holding a thick wooden stick and smashing it towards his face.

Bai Zhijin subconsciously touched his forehead, but there seemed to be faint pain. It was unbelievable that this feeling was so real. It was as if someone had forced information from 20 years ago into his brain, making his brain feel like a dead end.

It took about 20 minutes for Bai Zhijin to calm down a bit. However, as he continued to drag the web page down, the mood that he had just calmed down immediately went into disarray — the case was still hanging, the killer was still at large, since the victim was dead and there were no other witnesses.

Previously, Bai Zhijing was a firm atheist and didn't believe in things like souls or dreams. However, his own experience made him believe — he felt that this was Du Jingjing giving him a "dream".

However, what Bai Zhijin couldn't understand was, since Du Jingjing's ghost could only dream, why did she have to wait for over 20 years? Why don't you immediately find someone to redress your grievances? Or is it that it takes twenty years for a person's soul to leave the body and dream for a living person?

"Are you asleep?" A message popped up on the screen. It was from the Withered Leaf.

"As long as I can sleep." Bai Zhijin bitterly smiled, "I'm afraid that I won't be able to sleep today, and will probably lose sleep frequently in the future."

"Ah, what's going on?"

Since he couldn't sleep, and he was bored, Bai Zhijin told the Withered Leaf everything that had happened to him.

"Could it be that Du Jingjing is really dreaming with you?" The Withered Leaf butterfly said.

"I can't think of any other explanation." Bai Zhijin paused before he continued typing. "What should I do?"

"You mean you saw the killer's face. Do you still remember it?"

"Of course, I will not forget it for the rest of my life."

"Then just call the police. Tell the police about the killer's identity and have them arrest him."

"I can make a picture of the murderer. It'll be more intuitive." Bai Zhijin said.

"Wow, you can draw?"

"Of course, when I was young I loved to paint. Mom even sent me to a drawing class, but when I grew up I drew less."

"Scholar."

Bai Zhijin did not continue chatting but took out a pen and paper and began to draw. With his decent drawing skills, he quickly drew a vivid picture of the murderer.

Bai Zhijin took out his phone, took a picture of the murderer, and prepared to report the crime. At this moment, he suddenly thought of a question. The murderer that he "saw" was just his own dream. Saying that someone was a rapist or murderer with just a dream was way too subjective. What if he got it wrong and wronged the good guy? It would be best to first confirm if the person in his portrait truly existed. Therefore, Bai Zhijin didn't say that he was a rapist and murderer. She only asked if the police knew this person and if he had a criminal record.

However, Bai Zhijin had never expected that his report would fall like a stone into the ocean. It had been three days, and there was no response from the police.

Bai Zhijin did not wait for the police to reply, but wanted to investigate it himself. He was a veteran Internet fanatic, and was well aware of the power of the internet.

Very soon, the photos of the 'murderer' appeared on many community forums. This was exactly what Bai Zhijin released. He did not say much and simply added a line of text under the photo: "Do you know this person?"

After posting the news on the forum, Bai Zhijin suddenly felt relaxed. He even thought that if he could help the ghost to redress her grievances, she would no longer be 'pestering' him and he would no longer be bothered by nightmares.

A day later, Bai Zhijin opened his e-mail address and was disappointed that he did not receive a reply from the police. After closing the mailbox, Bai Zhijin once again opened the thread that he had posted on the forum.

This time, Bai Zhijin was not disappointed. The enthusiasm of the netizens had far exceeded his imagination. He had actually posted more than a hundred replies. However, the content of these replies left him dumbstruck.

"French fries" replied: "What are you looking for Pang Hong for?" What's your relationship with him?

"Original catalpa" reply: people looking for beasts must not be good. What is your relationship with Pang Hong?

"Zhang Longhu" replied: "Oh my god, do you think you're humorous?

"For eating potatoes" replied: "I have a low back pain, how about I smash you to death with a brick!"

"Dauntless" replied: Do not take ignorance as humor!

"Disordered" replied: "Idiot, I'm destined to be struck by lightning!"

"Fisherman's Fish" replied: "Damn, I'll sit on your ass and kill you!"

The tone of "Zhou's World" was even more intense. He repeatedly sent out a row of bombs, shaking them in large red letters: Pang Hong, don't think that the police won't be able to catch you, you have to be cocky. Let's see how long you can be cocky for!

Bai Zhijin finally understood. The man he saw in the ruins was indeed a beast called Pang Hong. Naturally, everyone was filled with righteous indignation at the mention of him, and he asked inappropriately, "Do you know this person?" Wasn't this a direct confrontation? He could only blame himself for paying too little attention to social news. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made such a low level mistake.

In the search engine input "Pang Hong", the net appeared more than 300,000 search records, really opened Bai Zhijin's eyes, originally the world really has ghost-like criminal - he is like a ghost, came and went without a trace. There were more than a hundred recorded crimes, but each one was brittle, with only the occasional insidious face, which didn't seem to have helped the case in any way. For more than two decades, Pang had not even touched the door of the prison, and these photographs only added to his mystique. Some people even said that Pang Hong had been witnessed intentionally.

What was even more chilling was that Pang Hong's assailant had no pattern. He was like an unpardonable devil who could attack anyone at any time. Those that died miserably under his hands were young, middle-aged, and even white-haired old men, women, and men. His methods were extremely cruel. Robbing, raping, dismembering … Furthermore, Pang Hong never robbed money. Perhaps money could not satisfy his perverted needs.

After reading Pang Hong's introduction, Bai Zhijin began to tremble. Although the sun was shining brightly outside, his heart felt as if it had fallen into an icehouse. Previously, he was optimistic that as long as he could provide the photos to the police, they would be able to easily capture the murderer. However, reality was much more cruel than he had expected — even if the police had the photos, there was nothing they could do about Pang Hong.

Bai Zhijin also understood the reason behind him calling the police – Pang Hong was a disgrace to the police, everyone probably remembered his appearance in their hearts. Suddenly a man came up with a picture of him. To the police, this was not a clue, but a provocation or a mockery.